GenCon and Kara Black

I've been back from GenCon for a week and a half and just got my oldest starting school this week (he is a big kinder-gardener now!). So life at the DrGabe blog is coming off of its summer hiatus and back to grind. It was a great summer, filled with a few vacations and of course the big daddy gaming convention of them all, GenCon. 

I'll have more to report about GenCon in the coming days, but I wanted to talk about my miniature that went into the painting contest, Lt Kara Black. This is pretty much all I painted this summer and it was a blast to paint only one model and give it the best I could when it comes to blending in the highlights and shadows. Unfortunately it didn't make it past the first cut, since there really wasn't such a thing at this competition. The winning entries were fantastic, but we were all going up against professional painters who took home almost all of the trophies. 

When I was picking up my entry the organizers were talking about how Marike Reimer was embarrassed to have won all of the Dark Sword Miniature prizes, since she is one of there staff painters. The comment I heard, was "What stuff is there left to get at this point."  Anyway, there is probably a long rant coming about professional painter and the hobby painter somewhere down the road.

So what would have make Kara stand out more? The blending is actually pretty well done, but not perfect. There is space on the back for some freehand work (I was too chicken to do it!), and there were no conversions on the model (something almost all of the winners had, even if it was just the base).  The good news is that its open to enter at Adepticon! :)

Wait, where is the 40K?

Its ok to call off the man hunt- I'm still here, and there is nothing to be overly concerned about.  The truth is that I've been taking some down time with painting. At least painting 40K that is. Now don't try reading too much into this, but its more that that I have a large box of other party single miniatures that I've been picking for the for the last couple of years. In fact, my future painting log looks to be full of single models and not full 40K armies. Don't fret PappaJJ- you're orcs and goblins are still on top of the work list. Well, after I finish this here one model!

Last year at GenCon Indy, I found the Studio McVey models for the first time. The Lt. Kara Black from the now forthcoming Sedition Wars range immediately caught my eye. There is so much to love about this model- the pose, the guns, the extras, and the incredible resin cast. So here she is, my first run of really taking some time on an individual model. There are still several places that aren't started, and a few that need more work, its definitely WiP. I hope to start on the base this week and finally be finished soon. Perhaps when I go to GenCon this year, I'll throw it into the painting contest...

Movin' to the Boyz

Here are the first couple of Orc Boyz to get my feet wet on the big guys. As much of a pain in the ass these models were to assemble, they paint very nicely. I hope the orange vests and the purple-leather skirts come as well as I envisioned them.  With all of the washes and no dull coat, the models tend to reflect a lot of light.  It will probably take awhile to get the full unit of 40 boyz done... but at least it will be fun!

Goblins are Done!

Things have been silent a bit around here for a couple of reasons.  I was waiting for a WarStore order that continue the Scenic Snow to arrive and for some new lights (from Target of course) for the light box. So in other words, I've been lazy. :)

The snow/mountain effect of the snow was fun to do, and it was the first time I've done this. Being unsure the 'best' way to proceed, I took my cues from Mr. Justine at Secret Weapon Miniatures Tutorial.

I ended up doing the 'wet snow' technique to represent the horde of orcs marching over the snow, causing it to melt a bit underneath. Making wet snow is easy- place Realistic Water and then douse with the fake snow. I put some 'fresh' snow on top, using a PVA glue/snow mix to add some variety to the consistency of the snow.

Night Gobbo' Command

I am nearly done with the first unit of the Orcs and Goblins army project- only some touch ups and basing to complete. The part I like the least on these guys is the purple. However, there is going to be a WarStore order in my future. I'm pretty happy with the rough highlights and then using lots of inks and washes to complete the model. The effect looks nice and it doesn't take forever to complete.

WiP Night Goblins

Question to the group- favorite snow effect products on the market that you like?

Next on the order is starting on a large unit of orc boys!

Working on Night Goblins

After pushing the oversized orc boys off a cliff, I moved to the Night Goblins. These models are more like it!  Only a couple of pieces of beautifully carved plastic that fit well within their bases. Nice work Games Workshop.

The paint scheme/method was going to be a bit different than your typical paint job. One of the things that I need to be able to do is to produce a good (or better) table-top quality army without spending most of my life doing it. 

So the model gets base coats all around then highlighted pretty aggressively. More aggressively than you might think. The first pass looks pretty weird- no shadows, lots of messy highlights. But then you start throwing inks, washes, and other shadows on top of the model and viola! You get some pretty nice looking models without spending tons of hours on the models. 

This is my variation on the methods taught on the Miniature Mentor Website and the Wapple's class this year at Adepticon. A couple of things to note. The main thing is that you need to highlight more than you think. A whole lot more. In fact it should look like "peptobismol"  according to Jim Wapple. This is something I'll do more as I start working on the front ranks. The other thing is that you'll loose some of the highlight along the way and you'll have to go back and redo some of the areas. It will help bring out the pop more. Lastly, black sucks. No easy way to do it and I'm glad the main units of orcs don't wear black robes. I should have chosen purple or something!

Its Fantasy Time!

No, not that kind of fantasy. Thats for another blog.
Now that your mind is back in the gutter.... a few months ago an old friend (he's old and we've known each other for a long time!), prolific blogger, and long-time reader of this blog (can you believe its the same person!) asked me to paint an army for him.  How could I refuse PapaJJ?  I eagerly accepted the 'job' and waited for the details. Well that was a mistake, as I should have asked for the details and then accepted the job!  A few days later a huge box of Orcs and Goblins showed up on my doorstep... and my follies were only just beginning.

All kidding aside, this is going to be a fun army build. The only bad part is that this is probably going to take awhile to complete. That is the nature of WFB armies, particularly large ones like the O&G's.  So sit back for the next few months as I struggle to build these monsters (as fun loving as they might be).

Background:
JJ also has a Dark Elf army that he built for Adepticon this year that he plans to grow. According to the fluff in the army book, the DE's at one time held O&G slaves. The idea quickly sprung from there that these orcs were going to be escaped/freed slaves of the Dark Elves. With that, the color scheme and basing were settle on: Snow capped mountains for the terrain and the complementary color set of yellow-green (skin tones) with purple and orange highlights.
The hope is to create a visually unique army that will tie in with his Dark Elves. The purple-orange is different from the red-yellow-white of most O&G armies out there.

The Start:
The first thing I wanted to start was the huge unit of orc boys with choppa and shield.

Proof that they all will rank together...  just barely!

However, those damn orcs are a pain to assemble on a base. The feet and bodies are way to big, even for the larger square bases. After cussing at Games Workshop for a few days assembling these bad boys, I moved to something more sane for the first coat of paint- goblins. And I'l